


Bonus - Amnesia

by BubbaKnowlton



Series: Whumptober 2018 [Disko kid edition] [9]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Halloween, Kid Fic, M/M, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 06:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16592693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubbaKnowlton/pseuds/BubbaKnowlton
Summary: Honestly, Ben thinks, it's like the Prophets are trying to kill their son. / Whumptober 2018-“It’s a list of faces that someone made me. I have memory loss because...” He thought for a moment. “Huh, I forgot. Did anyone tell you?”“No, I only just arrived. What’s going on here? A Bajoran festival?”He remembered this! “It’s Halloween! A human holiday where you dress up in costumes. I’m a skeleton! Uh-” Joey glanced at the padd. “Jake and Ziyal have skulls painted on them too. I can’t find them. Or anyone on this list but you.”





	Bonus - Amnesia

**Author's Note:**

> so i saw that amnesia wasnt a thing on the whumptober list even though its one of my favorite fic tropes, so heres a bonus lmao.  
> also added a couple of garashir kids, 'cause Cardassian babies are fun little disasters. this was supposed to be for halloween, but i,,, obviously didn't finish it on time, lmao

**Bonus - Amnesia**

“Hello there.” Joey crouched down as a pair of kids crawled up to him. One, dressed as a cat, grabbed at the glowing paint on his costume, and the other one, dressed as a dog, sat down and reached up at him. “Where’s your parents, guys?”

Goodness, he had no idea what their names were. He at least knew that he knew them and their parents, but the head injury he’d gotten a few days ago had impaired his memory, and he was forgetting faces and names more than anything, with navigation a close second. His brother had made him a chart to look at, but he’d discarded it when he saw that everyone was wearing a mask for the big Halloween celebration on the Promenade.

They just stared up at him, not answering. He had no idea whether or not they could talk. “I guess we’ll go look for a Cardassian. There’s only one adult besides my sister, and that should be your... mom or dad.”

Huh. He’d started forgetting even more. He felt like he was supposed to tell someone specific about that, but decided he’d just look for his siblings and tell them. Telling his dad was probably a better idea, but he hadn’t seen his costume yet, and wasn’t sure whether or not he had a mask. His brother, however, matched him. They were both glowing skeletons. He could remember that much, at least. His sister was something else, but she also had a skull painted on her face.

Joey picked up the twins. “Let’s go, guys!”

As Joey walked off, Miles nudged Julian and gestured in the kids’ direction. “Hey, Julian, Joey’s taking off with Ulana and Milar.”

“Looks like they’re going towards the kids’ section. They’ll be fine on their own.”

“You sure? Jo’s got his head all muddled.”

“Jake gave him a list of faces. Mine is on it. I think the twins’ are too.”

-

After a while of wandering, Joey realized he had no idea where he was going. He looked around for anyone familiar, but the costumes were all just giving him a headache. The twins realized he was getting overwhelmed and patted his chest, making soft cooing sounds. It was reassuring, but also made him more anxious at the same time.

“Do you guys see anyone with skulls painted on their faces?” The two of them looked around the crowd, and then shook their heads. “Do you see your parents?” Another no. Crushing. He sighed, and headed for the exit. Maybe he would be better off finding his face chart and then asking the computer for help locating someone on it.

He’d ask it where his brother and sister were, but he’d forgotten their names again, and couldn’t remember if the computer would understand if he asked it where his siblings were. Could it identify him? Probably not.

Once he was in an empty hallway, he asked, “Um... Computer, where are Sisko’s quarters?” The numbers it gave meant absolutely nothing to him. He’d have to take it step by step. First, getting to the right section of the station. Then, the right level. Finally, the right room.

-

It took him a lot longer than he’d wanted to get home. The twins whined at him, and he set them down. They crawled off, and he looked around for his chart. He found the padd on the table, and opened it up.

Everyone and their names looked unfamiliar, but his brother had labeled each one with their relation to each other, what to call them, and a long description if he clicked on their pictures.

Benjamin Sisko, Dad. Jake Sisko, Jake (brother). Tora Ziyal, Ziyal (sister). 

Finally, he had names. “Computer, where is Benjamin Sisko?”

“ _Benjamin Sisko is in Ops._ ”

Well, he didn’t know how to get there. “What about Jake Sisko?”

“ _Jake Sisko is on the Promenade._ ”

Great, that wasn’t specific at all. He’d just come from there, right? He tried to think of how to get back, but... No, that was gone too. “Uh, Tora Ziyal?”

“ _Tora Ziyal is on the Promenade._ ”

He sighed. That didn’t help either. “Thanks, Computer.” He scrolled through the padd, hoping the twins’ faces would be on it, but there were only two Cardassians on it, and they were both adults, one being his sister and the other his father. “Well... I guess I have no idea who you are, guys, but do you know how to get back to the Promenade?”

-

Stepping out onto the Promenade was both a relief and torture. It was even noisier and more congested than before, and everyone was in costume. He had the twin dressed as a dog in one arm, the cat hanging onto his back so he could hold his padd in front of him and hope he’d recognize anyone. The fact that he had to scroll through everyone made it harder. 

He thought he recognized one woman with spots on her face, but when he checked on his padd and saw that she was ‘Auntie Jadzia,’ he missed his chance to talk to her. She was gone when he looked back up. The twin in his arm chirped at him. “I guess we can’t ask her. Keep looking, guys! Jake and Ziyal have skulls, and I hope you remember who your parents are.”

When one of the twins waved at someone, he was hopeful, but whoever they’d seen vanished when he turned to look.

As time passed on and the twins started to get restless, Joey felt like giving up. His headache was back with a vengeance, and he was cold and hungry. His costume wasn’t insulating at all, and there were so many people around he didn’t know where he could get food.

“What are we going to do, guys? I can’t find anyone. I don’t know where to look anymore.” The cat twin peeped at him, and he looked around for a place to sit down. There was a bench with no one on it, so he headed towards it. Maybe if he sat down, someone would find him. 

Someone walked straight into him, and he fell hard to the ground. The twins squeaked loudly, and as he sat dazed on the ground, he gave a forlorn chirp as well. The person walked off without even sparing a glance. Both of the twins slid off of him to make sure the other was alright, and Joey felt his headache increase, a tormenting throb beneath his skull. He held his head, and sniffled. The twins immediately turned their attention to him, making distressed chirps.

“Joseph?”

Joey looked up to see a Cardassian man in a military uniform walking towards them, the crowd moving away from him with unhappy expressions on their faces. He checked his padd, and finally, he had a match. One of the twins pointed at the picture of his father. 

Once close enough, his father reached down and lifted him up. One of the twins clung to him. “Joseph, are you alright? Who are these children?” The other twin whined and grabbed his father’s leg, reaching for their sibling.

“I don’t know,” he answered both questions at once. He pulled up the toddler, and they chirped at him. “Are we friends, guys?”

The child put a hand on his forehead and smiled at him. They gave a happy peep, and then looked up at his father’s face. Giving an inquisitive chirp, they reached for him as well.

Ignoring the toddler, his father looked at his padd. “What’s that?”

“It’s a list of faces that someone made me. I have memory loss because...” He thought for a moment. “Huh, I forgot. Did anyone tell you?”

“No, I only just arrived. What’s going on here? A Bajoran festival?”

He remembered this! “It’s Halloween! A human holiday where you dress up in costumes. I’m a skeleton! Uh-” Joey glanced at the padd. “Jake and Ziyal have skulls painted on them too. I can’t find them. Or anyone on this list but you.”

“You don’t sound well. I’ll find Benjamin and ask more about your memory loss. You’re supposed to be safe and cared for on this station, and you’re wandering around when you’re ill and freezing.” He reached down for the other twin, and Joey hugged them close. “We’ll bring your friends along. I had no idea there were more human-Cardassian hybrids on the station.”

-

Finally getting out of the crowd and away from the noise did wonders for Joey’s headache. The turbolift brought them up into ops, and the twins looked around like they’d never been there before. His father went up to someone dressed in a knight costume as soon as the turbolift stopped. “Benjamin!” A glance to his padd told him the human man they were approaching was his dad.

“Dukat, I didn’t know you’d left your ship. Ah. Why do you have Ulana and Milar?” Joey looked at the twins, and they smiled at him, a confirmation of their names. He wished his hands were free so he could add that into his padd.

“They were with Joseph when I found him. I assumed they were his friends.”

“Not that I’m aware of. Joseph?”

“I... I thought we were friends. They’re not on my list, though.”

“Let me see that list.” Joey handed it over. “What? There’s barely anyone on this.”

“Oh. Do they even know me? Or did I just take them?”

His dad avoided the questions. Joey felt like he’d know why if he had more of his memories. A disheartening thought. “Did you need something, Dukat?”

“I had only intended to spend some time with my children before returning to my ship, but I found Joseph ill on the floor of the Promenade, saying he has memory loss.”

“Yes, he hit his head a few days ago while walking with Ziyal. Doctor Bashir says the affect is temporary.”

“Is that what happened?” Joey couldn’t remember that, nor the two people he was talking about. “Who are they?”

“Ziyal is your sister, Joseph.”

“You don’t remember that? You remembered it just a few hours ago. Joey, I told you to find me or Doctor Bashir if it got worse.”

“Oh. I didn’t know.” The twins cooed softly at him. “I’m sorry... My head started hurting in the crowd, and I forgot.”

“That’s not good. Joey, why don’t we stop by Sickbay? I was just on my way to the Promenade. We can give Ulana and Milar to the O’Briens.” He took the twins from them. They both chirped sadly, reaching for their new friend.

“Are they their parents?” He didn’t get an answer.

His father frowned. “They’re the tailor’s children, aren’t they? I told you I don’t want Joseph anywhere near him.”

-

“Am I going to forget about my new friends?” Joey asked as a slightly familiar nurse scanned him, looking at her tricorder. She’d listed off a bunch of the readings, saying words he didn’t understand. It didn’t sound very good, and his parents looked worried about him.

“I’m afraid you might soon, dear. Don’t worry, though, I’ll call Doctor Bashir, and he’ll fix you up.”

“Okay... Do you know why my head hurts so much?” She just gave him a kind smile and went to call the doctor. 

He didn’t recognize the man that came in and scanned him again. “He’s not responding to the treatment I gave him... His memory engrams are being blocked again.”

-

Despite the various injections he was given, Joey didn’t recognize anyone around him. Even after he looked at the list, updated with all sorts of new people, he would forget just as fast as he looked. When the doctor asked him if he knew where he was, Joey thought for a moment, and then said, “No.”

“If it keeps up like this, he’ll forget everything in a few days.”

While looking at the padd he was holding, Joey realized he couldn’t understand a word on it. A man in a red and black uniform tried to talk to him, but he had no idea what he was saying.

“Benjamin, I don’t think he can understand Standard anymore,” a man with scales that looked similar to his own said. Joey went to him, holding onto his leg. Something about him was more familiar than the other man. “I’ll change his translator to kardasi.” After that, he could understand everyone again.

He sat on the scaled man’s lap as he updated the list into words he could read, and almost all of the pictures were eliminated until it just had family members. “Do you know any of these people, Joseph?”

“That one is you.”

“Besides me.”

He stared at the padd. “My head hurts.”

“I know. You said that a few minutes ago.”

“Oh. I forgot.”

“That’s alright. Let’s try again.” He covered one of the pictures. “Do you know any of these people?”

“She looks like you.” Joey pointed at a picture of a girl. He yawned. “I’m tired.”

-

The door to the room he was in slid open, and Joey could see two kids standing there. They looked very similar, but one had a headband while the other did not. They didn’t say anything to him, but he didn’t know what else to do, so he followed them.

“Where are we?” Taking his hands, they didn’t answer. “Who are you?”

The two of them led him to a door. One reached up at him, and he lifted them up. Then they reached for a panel next to the door. He stepped closer to it, and they pried it off. After pulling a few chips and wires, the door opened. The toddler squirmed to be let down.

The inside of the room was completely different from the hallway he’d just been in. Joey looked around, and then turned to see that the door was closing, leaving the two kids outside. The doorway vanished. “Where did you go? Guys?”

He wandered the new landscape until he came across a small town. There were people walking around, but none of them looked at him, and no one spoke to him when he asked where he was. Everything faded, leaving him in an empty room, but then it returned. He rubbed his eyes. “Huh?”

It didn’t happen again, so he kept walking. He stepped out onto a road and started to walk across. Partway through, he heard someone yell, “Joey!” and then there was a loud, blaring sound before everything went dark.

-

Honestly, it sometimes felt like he'd woken up in the infirmary more times than he'd woken up in his own bed. Yet, he felt perfectly fine, so Joey wasn't sure why he was on a biobed. Trying to sit up revealed why as he realized he felt very numb. A pain killer.

He flopped back down, and looked around. Doctor Bashir was typing something on a computer console. There was a jostle next to him, and when he turned his head, there were two little faces peering up at him as they climbed onto the beds. "Oh, hey guys."

Wait.

"I know you!"

"Joey?" Doctor Bashir turned around, and the twins each gave a happy chirp. "You're up. How are you feeling?"

"I remember everything! Well, almost. How'd I get hurt again?"

"You got hit by a twenty first century automobile in the holosuites, with the safety off."

"Oh." He thought for a moment. "Wait, what?"

"Nevermind. I'll go tell your parents you're up and all better. Ulana, Milar, go play somewhere else while Joey's father is here." The twins nodded, and took off. "They would have been here when you woke up, but they started arguing, so I had them leave."

Joey rolled his eyes. "That's all they do when they're together. And it's not even Cardassian arguing on Dad's part."

**Author's Note:**

> Follow/talk to me on Tumblr: @Oblio-k


End file.
